Investigators are searching for two men who robbed the Wrens Dollar General at gunpoint Monday evening.

“The two men walked in the store at 8:54 p.m. with bandanas draped across their faces, brandishing handguns,” Wrens Police David Hannah said. “One was a black male around 5-foot-10. The other was a light-skinned black male approximately 6-foot-1. One of the weapons appeared to be an automatic and the other looked like a revolver.”

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Hannah said the men entered and demanded cash from the registers and from the safe.

Chief Hannah also said the tape from the store’s security cameras showed that while the robbers were in the back of the store retrieving the money from the safe, one of the city’s patrol cars pulled through the store’s parking lot.

“It could have gotten real ugly,” he said.

Witnesses claim the robbers fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash, ran on foot to the Hadden’s IGA Grocery Store parking lot where they entered a four-door black car an fled. Hannah said witnesses claim to have later seen the car headed toward Augusta on U.S. Highway 1 at a high rate of speed.

“The call came in that the store had been robbed at about 9 p.m. and our officers were there within one minute,” Chief Hannah said.

Hannah said that he believes this is the fourth or fifth Dollar General Store in the CSRA that has been robbed in the last month.

“We called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and investigators from both of these offices are assisting in the investigation,” Chief Hannah said.

“We called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and investigators from both of these offices are assisting in the investigation,” Chief Hannah said.

“It has been awhile since we have had an armed robbery like this one in Wrens,” the chief said. “We will definitely be beefing up our patrols around our area businesses. I encourage all citizens to watch your surroundings and be careful. If you find yourself in a situation like this don’t hesitate to give up what they are asking for. No one needs to try to be a hero.”

A Jefferson County ordinance that has been in place for some time will begin being enforced March 1, according to the county’s administrator, Paul Bryan.

The purpose of this ordinance is twofold, for emergency response and in preparation for the census count, he said, adding that an accurate census count is vital for such things as state and federal grants.

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“We will be asking the cities to adopt similar type ordinances to ensure uniformity in addressing and to allow quicker response for emergency personnel,” Bryan said.

“I think it will be a good thing,” Mike Bennett, the county’s Emergency Medical Services director, said of the ordinance.

“In conversations with some of the crew members who respond to the 911 calls, they’re expressing they are better able to see the numbers at night. It has improved the response time in allowing my people to find the locations where they are needed quickly. It will be great when every residence has their numbers in place,” he said.

In Wrens, the city’s ordinance is the same as the county’s, according to Wrens Building and Grounds Director Walter Hannah.

“It’s in compliance with the county’s as far as 911 addressing,” he said. “The city’s ordinance will begin being enforced at the same time as the county’s.”

Hannah said Wrens residents who need to confirm their address should leave a message for him at city hall. At this time, he doesn’t know of anyone in Wrens who is selling the signs.

Stapleton will be following the county ordinance as well, according to the city’s chief of police, Timothy Taylor. He said city residents with questions should contact city hall there.

In Louisville, Chief of Police Jimmy Miller said the city does not have an ordinance to regulate the addressing.

“But we’re all supposed to comply,” he said. “It would sure be a big help to us if people would put their addresses where we could find them. We just had something like that this weekend, where we went up and down the road trying to find someone and couldn’t locate their house. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything serious but it could have been.”

Louisville residents with questions should contact their local fire department, Miller said.

In Wadley, there has been an ordinance in place for several years. Residents without signs should contact city hall and leave a message for the fire department. The city will start enforcing the ordinance March 1, according to Wadley Police Chief Paul Jordan. The signs cost $20, which includes installation by the city’s fire department.

Avera Mayor Tommy Sheppard said the city plans to adopt the county’s ordinance next month, adding that this is an important issue.

He said everybody in Avera may know where everyone lives but the people who are on the ambulance service and the sheriff’s department may not. The city council knows what kind of problems can occur if emergency workers can’t find the residents when they’re in need, Sheppard said.

Bartow will consider having its own ordinance during its next city council meeting Monday, Jan. 28, according to Susan Scarboro, the city’s manager.

“We don’t have an ordinance at this time. We will be discussing passing one,” she said.

In the county, Bryan said residents should contact their local fire department if the need a sign or directions on placement.

“All readdressing has been completed,” he said. “The county map and map book are being updated. First responders and census people will get copies of the map book. We don’t want anyone’s life lost. If our response people can’t find them. That’s the problem. This is an ordinance to try to help people and save lives.”

Years ago a proud daughter of Glascock County saw the history of the now 150-year-old county in need of being preserved. Rebecca Dye Knighton created the Glascock County Historical Society so each new generation of Glascock citizens could know from where they came.

Now two more Glascock County daughters have seen a need to help preserve that history as well, but also provide it to the masses. Society President Robin Usry and Secretary/Treasurer Misty May, along with the Historical Society, have created a book to give residents A Taste of History.

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In the Nov. 18, 2003, Glascock County Historical Society meeting, Usry suggested that they create a cookbook to raise money for the Society. After the research of other Georgia cookbooks, the Society decided to create a cookbook with pictures of Glascock County new and old dispersed throughout to give a flavor for the origins of the recipes.

May typed 325 recipes that were submitted for the cookbook, while over 400 photographs were gathered to tell a pictorial history of the county. With a grant of $2,000 from Jefferson EMC Operation Round Up, Usry and May were on their way to putting the book together.

They purchased a computer and printer with the grant and used the rest of the funds to begin printing with Kelley Printers of Dearing.

“They really did a great job,” Usry said of the spiral bound book. “We picked out the paper, the color of the cover and the name since we were incorporating photos and recipes.”

The first copy of the book was sold at the WinterFest on Nov. 24.

“We only had 20 copies that day, but we walked away with 50 orders,” Usry exclaimed. “It was fantastic.”

Now the ladies have sold 360 of the cookbooks at $21 each for the more than 300 pages of history and good food.

“We have not been able to keep enough of them in,” May said. “People have wanted them for their businesses to sell. The response has been so overwhelming. The county and the people here are so proud. This has been tremendous.”

“Some people buy five to eight at a time,” Usry added. “They have been shipped to California, Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Maine, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Utah and North and South Carolina.”

While the Society wants to sell the cookbooks to raise money for a museum they will use to showcase the county’s history, they also wanted to have the photographs to show not only the residents but so many others across the world what Glascock County has been and where it has gone.

“The attempt to restore all these photos is to keep that part of history intact,” May said. “This also has some family history,” Usry commented. “Some families have five generations in here.”

There are pictures of buildings and homes in the county that have been long gone, structures citizens find hard to believe are still standing, while some of the others show structures that will soon meet their demise. One photograph shows the Gibson Depot and railroad tracks that are covered by pavement on Railroad Avenue.

“We hope to have a Glascock County Museum one day and purchase supplies to preserve these pieces of history and the newspapers,” May said.

“We have the first Glascock County newspaper that was printed in 1892, it was called The Enterprise then,” Usry said.

May said that the Society has been looking for a building they can purchase or one they can receive as a gift to house things that have been found in the county that are meaningful to its history.

One piece of history is a copy of tax records that date back to 1853 with all the names of the county’s Confederate soldiers. They also found a calligraphy pen and the ink that was the writing method back then, which was found in an old Courthouse vault during renovations.

The Society is now eyeing a Volume 2 to add to their existing book. This one will hold photographs and Usry hopes to add all the churches and their histories in the new edition as well as graves of the Civil War. May said they hope to also put in past elected officials, the people who were the cornerstone of planning the county.

To purchase one of the books, stop by The Peebles’ House to see Usry or the Glascock County Magistrate Office to see May.